Leave Chicago in the dryer a little too long—ok, a lot too long—and out pops Milwaukee, a small town with a thumping heart and, if the wind is right, the whiff of beer. Having fun there is the easy part, especially for single Cheeseheads who like their brew on tap, their fish fried and their music live. Milwaukee's Summerfest—one of myriad annual events along the lakefront—is the largest music festival in the world. Housing is still inexpensive (but getting less so) and even some of the best restaurants are devoid of pretense. More cultured palettes will appreciate downtown's performing arts center, multiple theaters and recent $100-million expansion to the city's art museum. The trick is landing a job there—Milwaukee ranked third to last in projected employment growth—and coping with high taxes, that annoying McKenzie-brothers accent ("How's it goin', eh?") and downright pummeling winters. Then there's the matter of what lies beneath those winter clothes. Laments one native 34-year-old male socialite: "All our really hot chicks go to Chicago and New York." —Brett Nelson

Methodology: Our overall ranking is based on the sum of the rankings within seven separate categories for the 40 biggest U.S. metros. The data used to create these rankings came from Forbes, the U.S. Census, ACCRA, Woods & Poole, AOL City Guides/Digital City, Richard Florida and Kevin Stolarick, Catalytix and Carnegie Mellon University.The first six categories are given equal weight, while the buzz factor is given less weight.

Stock quotes are delayed at least 15 minutes for Nasdaq, at least 20 minutes for NYSE/AMEX.
U.S. indexes are delayed at least 15 minutes with the exception of Nasdaq, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 which are 2 minutes delayed. Disclaimer
Forbes 40 Index powered by Telemet.
News may include latest headlines from Reuters.
Exchange trademark and copyright notices.